Reader Input Needed: Business or First Class?

My first year of law school is over in two weeks and before my summer job starts, I want to squeeze in a UA award trip to Thailand and Japan–and perhaps even mainland China. As a backup, I also have BD, AA, BA, and DL miles to burn.

My last award redemption was an Air Canada, TAP, Lufthansa, SAS, US Airways combination in Business Class. While Business Class is great, I’d love to try out Thai Airways and Turkish Airlines in First Class, as well as re-visit Lufty’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt. It is the ground service in FRA, IST, and BKK more so than the in-flight experience that make me want to book a First Class ticket.

Lufthansa begins A380 service between FRA and NRT on 11 June and many flights have Business Class seats available. If this service began a few weeks earlier, I would keep the Singapore Airlines SIN-MUC A380 Business flight I already have booked and fly back to Germany on Lufthansa. But since that option is not available, I’m not sure what to do.

All that I have booked right now is a MUC-SIN r/t on Singapore in Business Class. If I kept these flights, ideally I would fly from LAX-JFK on United’s p.s. service, JFK-ZRH-MUC on Swiss, and MUC-SIN-BKK on Singapore. The return would be something similar, perhaps a flight on Austrian Air or in US Airways’ new Business Class cabin.

What say you readers?

I’ve also got four free Hyatt nights to use and have never been to Bangkok or Tokyo before, so any advice you care to provide would be appreciated.